When I eat alone at a restaurant I can tell people are wondering: Am I waiting for someone? Did I get stood up? Am I a loner? Once a man offered to join me, as if he was afraid I was on the verge of some crisis. Why else would someone go to dinner alone? The reason I go out is because I like people-watching.

The San Diego State women’s basketball team is used to close games. Heading into Tuesday’s matchup against crosstown rival University of San Diego (4-2), SDSU’s last three games have been decided by two points each.

There was a 20-minute delay before last night’s game because Viejas Arena’s lights wouldn’t come on. Nobody blamed Chase Tapley at the time.

s that time of year again. The last of the summer blockbusters have left theaters, the newest “Harry Potter” is on top of the box office and winter Oscar contenders are queuing up. Leading the pack is next Friday’s release, “The Fighter.”

This Saturday at 4th and B, Wu-Tang Clan, a hip-hop collective seldom seen on the West Coast except for performances at the annual Rock The Bells festival, will mark the second date of its national “Rebirth Tour.” This time, the crew, featuring all surviving members, is embarking on new frontiers with the current roll call. For founding member U-God, it’s business as usual.

The dean of San Diego State’s College of Health and Human Services, Marilyn Newhoff, was a recipient of the most prestigious award from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. The Honors of ASHA presented the award to Newhoff on Nov. 19 at its annual conference.

It has been approximately five years since San Diego State began taking part in the Summer Service Learning Program in China. With support from the Wang Foundation and Tsinghua University, students are able to participate in a program that helps alleviate poverty through education.

There’s no better way to welcome the holidays than decorating with families and friends. Windows, trees and rooftops are typically laden in blinking, colorful LEDs, but San Diego uses its coastal location to its advantage and takes decorating and celebrating to the sea.

With finals looming and the rush to find the perfect gifts for family and friends, it’s easy to forget about the holiday spirit.

San Diego State students are finding new ways to connect online with the local college community. Breaking into the San Diego college scene just this year, thelbbsd.com, or The Little Black Book, is a social networking site exclusively for students who attend SDSU, University of San Diego, Point Loma Nazarene and UC San Diego.

Most of us weren’t even in high school when the Twin Towers fell. Since then, our country has faced many crises. Hurricane Katrina, corporate corruption, the great recession and the BP oil spill are just a few of the disasters we’ve lived through as a generation.

Call it the working man’s art exhibit: a pandemic of posters featuring a stark black and white face staring grimly outward; a vibrant space invader tiled underneath a freeway overpass; an image of the pope, in true Marilyn Monroe fashion, smiling and holding down his holy robes as they blow up in the wind; a stenciled caveman bearing a tray with a burger, fries and a shake.